Railroad-car attachment.



No. 817,103. PATENTED APR. 3, 1906- S. CONSTABLE. RAILROAD OAR ATTACHMENT.

APPLIUATION FILED APILZQ. 1905.

F 1 Ill/111111114 3 INVENTOH WWWM ' ATTORNEYS 'BLE, a citizen of the STEVENSON CONSTABLE, or New YORK, N. r.

manor-isms ATTAGHIlIlE-NT;

norsiaioe.

Application filed April To all rah/omit may concern: Be it knownthat I, S"r1avnNson=CoNsTA United Stateslof Americe, and a residentof NewYork'citv oounty and State of New York, have: invented. certain' new anduseful" Improvements-in Rail;

road-Gar Attachments of which the follow mgis a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings formingga part thereof. v ,Myjinvention relates to railroad-car attachments, and comprises a means for eX-f tending the platform of'railroad-cars sov as to bridge the space existinbeltwieen thefraile p at orms'o sta road-car platforms and t tions. Such space necessarily exists, and where the station-platformis built on a curve such space is sometimes, quite considerable and numerous accidents have occurred from passengers slipping*"i'nto' this space. To

ridge this space, extensions havebeen made to the stationlatform, such extensions being moved bac ward andforward by anoperator at the station after a train a standstill. Sucha device, however, necessitates, first, a costly construction of the station-platform; second, the employment of'a man to operate same, and; third, it requires that a train be always brought :to 'a standstill at about the same poiIit,;so that theextension portion ofthe station-platform. may substantially register. withjth'e' platforms of the railroad-cars. This latter causes'delays and additional wear and tear onrthe runningstock, because the engineer in charge oft-he train is compelled to commence to slow his trainearlier in order to hold'it well in hand, so as to stop at just 'the desired point, and then frequently has to finallybring the train to a standstill with brakes ap lied at a greater pressure than he woul'dif ewere a lowed greater leeway as to the exactstoppingplace.

With the foregoing in view I have designed an, extensible platform-for'the car itself operated at the same time and through thesame mechanism as the platform-door is operated,

so that the conductor in opening the doors or gates of the car-platforms will simultaneously extend the platform to bridge the space above referred to. Y

In the present example of my invention provide a simple form of hinged plate designed to swing to a vertical positlon when the door or gate of the platform isclosed, so

that it shall not at such times project beyond 1 Specification of Letters Patent.

29;1906. Serial No. 258,019.

' the face of the car and to swi'n down to a out the novel features in claims;

has'comej to v 1 of operation.

lever 13, pivoted at one end to t Patented April 3 1906.

horizontal osition, so that its ee end will "rest upon t e station-platform when the door or gate of the carlatform is o ened.

' My lnventlon ther consists m certain novel details of constructionand combinaparts, as will be hereinafter fully set tion of forth.

I will now proceed to describe an embodiment of my invention having reference to the accompanying drawings and will then point In the drawings, Figure 1 is an end view of a car with a portion of the platformon one side shown in section,- the c'ar being equipped with extension devices for its platform em- 'bodying my invention. Fig. 2 1s a view in hori'zontal section of a portion at one end'of the car, showing particularly the system of levers employed for operating the door and in connection with which system of levers my extension device is operated. Fig. 3 is a face View of a portion of the car, showing the extension device in its vertical position and in which position'itvis maintained when out Fig. 4 is a View in horizontal "SET/i310]! showin the extension device in its 0 erative position. Fig. 5 is a detail view s owing a modification in which the extension-plate is formed of two members.

The car shown herein is provided with the ordinary platform 1, provided with an in: closing portion 2,- havmg an end doorway "3 and lateral doorways 4. The lateral doorways 4 are for permitting in rose and egress of passengers to and from ti o station-platform, while the end doorway 3 is to permit passage from one car to another. The doorways 4 are erated b and-levers 6 from form. l hch hand lever 6 is and connected by a link 8 with lever 91 The bell-crank lever 9' connects b means of a link 10 with another bell-cran lever ll'horizontally disposed under the hood of the car; This bell-crank lever is connect= ed by means of a link 12 with an o eratinghe door,

the car-platas'at'l t, and at the other end to 15,, mounted in a transverse guideway 16. When the hand-lever 6 is pulled down, the bell-crank lever 9 is rocked causing the bell-crank lever 11 also to rock and impart therehytthe proper movement to the lever 13 to cause the door to slide into the 1provided with sliding doors 5, op-

pivoted at 7 a bell-crank L a slideupon its support,

housing 17, so as to open the doorway 4. A return movement of the hand lever pulls the door in the opposite direction to close it. Connected to the hand-lever 6 is another link 18, the lower end of which is pivoted to one arm of a bell-crank lever 19, in turn connected through a link with an operatingarm 21. The operating-arm 21 is mounted upon a pintle 22, which supports a swinging plate 23. This swinging plate is pivoted. to the car-platform and when in its horizontal position forms an extension therefor. \Vhen in a vertical position, the plate is swung up be tween the framing of the doorway, so that no portion thereof will project. When the hand-lever is in its uppermost position and the door therefore closed, the plate 22 is in its vertical position and against the door, while when the hand-lever is in its dowmnost position and the door retracted into its housing 17 the extension-plate 23 is in its operative horizontal position, as shown at the right-hand side of Fig. 1.

I may provide the extension-plate 23 with side wings 24, if desired, as shown more fully in Fig. 4, which side wings may be connected with the main portion by spring-hinges, so that they will have a tendency to open to the position shown in Fig. 4, but will be drawn into a position substantially at right angles with the plate, as shown in Fig. 3, by engagement with the door-framing when the plate 23 is swung into its vertical position.

In Fig. 5 Y I have shown a construction wherein the extension-plate is formed of two members 25 and 26, hinged together and arranged to be folded together when the extension plate is out of operation. Suitable mechanism, such as a linl; 27, pivoted to the car-platform and to the member 26, may be provided for compelling the proper movement of the member 26 to extend same when the supporting me1n'ber25 is swung from a vertical to a horizontal position.

\Vhat I claim is 1. The combination with a I'HllIOiLdr'Cill, a

sliding door or gate therefor, a hand-lever,

and means for operating said door from said hand-lever, of an extension member movably positioned in proximity to the doorway, and means com'iecting said extension member to said hand-lever, whereby said member will be moved to a position projecting beyond the body-line of the car when the door is slid open, and substantially horizontal with respect thereto, and whereby said member will be retracted to a position substantially within the body-line of the car, when the said door is closed.

2. The combination with a railroad-car, a sliding door or gate therefor, a hand-lever, and means for operating said door from said hand lever, of an extension-plate pivoted to the car in proximity to the doorway, and means connecting said pivoted extensionplate to said hand-lever whereby said plate.

will be swung down to a substantially horizontal position, and extending beyond the body-line of the car, when the door is slid open, and whereby said plate will be swung up to a substantially vertical position, against the door, when said door is closed.

3. il he combination with a railroad car, and a pivoted extension-plate therefor, and means for operating same, of a portion pivoted to said extension-plate, and adapted to further extend said plate when same is in operative position.

4. The combination with a railroad-car, a pivoted extenSion-plate therefor, and means for operating same, of side wings pivoted to said extension-plate, adapted to further extend same.

STEVENSON CONSTABLE.

Witnesses:

C. F. CARR-INGTON, L. S. ANDREWS, Jr. 

